By Haddon Libby
Forbes Magazine recently released its 42nd annual list of the four hundred richest Americans. Former President Donald Trump denounced the list and called Forbes, a “China Propanganda Machine, EXPOSED.” He also called it the “Fake Forbes list” and “an antique.” His antics came about as this former commander-in-chief and leader of the free world was dropped from the list due to an estimated net worth of $2 billion.
Sour orange grapes aside, you need a net worth of at least $2.9 billion to be included. Others falling off the list this year include Evan Spiegel of Snapchat and Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX crypto-fraud fame.
Seventy percent of those listed are self-made billionaires with the other 121 inheriting their wealth.
The oldest person on the list is David Murdock at 100. Murdock made his wealth from Dole Foods.
The youngest person on the list is Lukas Walton, the 37-year-old grandson of Walmart cofounder, Sam Walton.
The wealthiest self-made woman is Diane Hendricks with $19.3 billion. Hendricks is the cofounder of ABC Supply. The wealthiest woman is 73-year-old Alice Walton, Sam Walton’s daughter. Walton is worth $66.5 billion.
The wealthiest American is worth one-quarter of one TRILLION dollars. He has eleven children with names like Exa Dark Sideræl, X AE A-XII, Techno Mechanicus, Damian and Vivian. Founder or co-founder of Tesla, SpaceX, OpenAI, PayPal, Neuralink, Boring, Zip2 and owner of X (aka Twitter), Elon Musk is America’s wealthiest person.
The second person on the list was born to a 17-year-old high school student mother and 19-year-old unicyclist father. Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen’s name was changed at the age of four when his mother remarried. Jeff Bezos worked at Banker’s Trust from 1988 to 1990 selling loan participations, a business where one bank sells a piece of a loan to another bank. From that job, he joined hedge fund manager DE Shaw before starting an online bookstore named Amazon. Bezos is estimated to have a net worth of $161 billion.
The owner of Porcupine Creek, the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens and the island of Lanai is third on the list. Larry Elison is the founder of tech firm Oracle and estimated to have a net worth of $158 billion.
One of the greatest philanthropists on the list is also one of its oldest. At 93, the Sage of Omaha is none other than Warren Buffett. Founder of Berkshire Hathaway, he has pledged to give away most of his $121 billion net worth. One of Buffett’s closest friends is in sixth place and has also pledged to give away most of his $111 billion net worth. Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen. Since retiring from Microsoft, Gates has been involved in countless humanitarian efforts. Since retiring, Gates has acquired 242,000 acres of farmland, 71% of the Four Seasons Hotel, 21% of Ecolab and 34% of waste management company, Republic Services.
Larry Page, the co-founder of Google comes in fifth with $114 billion. Co-founder Sergey Brin is seventh with $110 billion.
Born to a psychiatrist mother and dentist father, Mark Zuckerberg went on to co-found Facebook while at Harvard. Before dropping out of university, Zuckerberg studied computer science and psychology. Forbes estimates Zuckerberg’s wealth to be $106 billion.
The last member of the $100 billion and up club owns the Los Angeles Clippers owner and retired CEO of Microsoft. Despite rolling out some horrible updates like Microsoft ME and Windows 7, Ballmer is worth $101 billion.
Michael Bloomberg rounds out the top ten with a $96 billion net worth. The former New York City mayor and founder of financial information firm Bloomberg LP started his career in 1966 at Salomon Brothers investment bank where he was paid $9,000/year.
To see the rest of the list, go to forbes.com/forbes-400.
Haddon Libby is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of RIA firm Winslow Drake Investment Management. For a no-cost review of your investment portfolio, please visit www.WinslowDrake.com.
